I’ve been doing SEO long enough to remember when cramming keywords into content helped. A lot has changed. But one thing hasn’t changed: backlinks are still important.
We work with all kinds of sites at BuyLinkCo.com, and one thing that keeps coming up is that Google cares about who links to you. That hasn’t altered in more than ten years.
The only thing that has changed is where those links come from. What about social media? A lot of SEOs still see it as a secondary pursuit.
But they’re missing out.
Let me explain.
What is backlinking for SEO?
Before we get started, let’s make sure we know what backlinking for SEO is: it’s getting links from other websites to yours. These links tell search engines that your content is useful and give it a vote of confidence. Building a varied portfolio of these votes from many sources, such as social media, is a modern way to do social backlinking.
People talk about HARO, guest posts, outreach emails, and link swaps. They work, okay? We also do them. You’re missing out on chances (and traffic) if you don’t use social media as a source of links.
Are social links usually “do-follow” now? No. But that’s not the point. It’s about how visible and diverse these platforms are and how they affect your total link profile.
You need to know about link characteristics to get this. A lot of links from social media backlink sites are “nofollow,” which means they have a rel=”nofollow” element in the HTML. In the past, this advised search engines not to use the link for ranking. But in a big upgrade in 2019, Google said that it now sees nofollow as a “hint” instead of a hard order.
SEO specialist Luca Tagliaferro says that even if nofollow links don’t immediately improve your backlink profile, they nonetheless bring in useful traffic and help people learn about your company. A healthy, natural link profile has both dofollow and nofollow links. Not paying attention to the latter is a mistake.
Google knows what’s going on on the web, and social signals are a component of it.
Do social media backlinks actually help?
Yes, but not in the way that most people think.
They won’t make you number one overnight. But this is what they do:
- They get your content seen.
- They lead to natural backlinks over time.
- They make your link profile look more organic (because it is).
Recent studies even suggest that websites with strong social signals can see up to 22% more organic traffic than similar sites without that engagement. Furthermore, active sharing helps with faster content indexing, as search engine crawlers prioritize popular and fresh content, giving your new posts a competitive edge. This is the core of effective social media backlinks seo.
And sometimes… one Reddit post can send you 5K visitors in a weekend.
I’ve seen it happen more than once.
Our proven social backlinking strategy at Buylinkco
Here’s what we do at BuyLinkCo (and what I recommend):
1. Create content people want to share
Look, content for SEO is fine. But content for humans? That’s what gets shared.
We’ve seen the best results with:
- Visual content (infographics, short videos)
- Useful breakdowns (step-by-step guides, templates)
- Industry commentary (especially stuff with a real opinion)
If your content feels alive, people are more likely to repost it. And every share is a door that might lead to a backlink. To maximize these social sharing backlinks, focus on creating “linkable assets”. Data shows that visual content is up to 40 times more likely to be shared on social media. Formats like original research reports, free tools, and comprehensive “Skyscraper” guides are magnets for both shares and natural links from journalists and bloggers who discover them.
2. Social bookmarking backlinks websites like Reddit & Flipboard
If you’re not using Reddit for distribution — carefully and respectfully — you’re missing one of the best social signals on the internet.
We’ve had content reach the front page of niche subreddits and naturally pick up links from bloggers who frequent these communities. The same applies to Flipboard, Hacker News, and even Quora.
You don’t need to spam. Just be useful. Add to the conversation, then link only when it makes sense. This strategy of social media marketing backlinking extends to other key platforms:
- LinkedIn: This is the powerhouse for B2B. Optimize your profile’s “Contact Info” and “Featured” sections with links. Share original data, industry insights, and in-depth analysis that encourages clicks back to your site for the full story.
- YouTube: Place your most important link in the first few lines of your video description. Create video tutorials that solve a specific problem and link to a downloadable checklist or template on your site.
- Pinterest: Don’t underestimate this visual search engine. Every pin can link back to your site, and its long content lifespan means a single pin can drive traffic for months or even years.
- Social Bookmarking Sites: Beyond the big names, a network of social bookmarking backlink websites, such as Pocket and Mix, as well as niche-specific communities like BizSugar, can be valuable for content discovery.
3. Sharing plugins: boring but effective
Yeah, it’s not sexy — but adding clean, fast-sharing buttons to your content makes a difference. Especially if your traffic already includes social media users.
We’ve tested this across multiple projects. The right placement = more shares = more reach = more chances at links.
4. Build relationships with influencers (even small ones)
One of the most underrated ways to get social visibility? Get your content into the hands of someone with an audience.
No, I don’t mean buying a shoutout. I mean:
- Commenting on their content,
- Sharing it without asking for anything,
- DMing with an idea or collaboration.
These things take time — but one retweet or LinkedIn post from the right person can kickstart your backlink snowball.
5. Niche communities are where the real ones hang out
We’ve joined Discord servers, Slack workspaces, LinkedIn groups — and just talked to people. Not with an agenda, just as fellow marketers or builders or tech nerds.
You’d be surprised how often someone says, “Hey, that’s a cool post — mind if I link to it in my newsletter?”
That’s the stuff you can’t automate, but it’s worth more than a thousand spun guest posts.
6. Leverage AI and emerging trends for 2025
Technology has a big impact on the future of social backlinking. AI-powered tools can now help you find link prospects and analyze the best content. Some data even show that AI-assisted content is 40% more likely to get backlinks.
You won’t find a social media backlink generator that does all the work, but these tools can help you find and reach out to potential customers much faster. People are also moving toward “social search,” which means they are using sites like TikTok and YouTube as their main search engines.
7. Use social media for tier 2 link building
When you earn a high-quality backlink from a guest post or media feature (a Tier 1 link), your job isn’t done. Promote that article across your social channels. By driving traffic and engagement to the page that links to you, you increase its authority, which in turn makes the link to your site even more valuable. This is a smart way to amplify your social media backlinks SEO efforts.
Tracking your social backlinking efforts
Here’s something we do religiously at BuyLinkCo: we track everything.
If a Reddit post leads to 3 quality backlinks and 2K visitors — great. We do more of that.
If some social platform gives us zero traction month after month? We drop it.
There’s no ego in the process — just data. To get this data, use UTM parameters for every link you share. These are short codes added to your URL that tell Google Analytics exactly where your traffic is coming from (e.g., a specific LinkedIn post vs. a tweet). This allows you to precisely measure the ROI of your social sharing backlinks and focus on the platforms that yield the best results.
Final thoughts
Social backlinks aren’t some silver bullet. They’re not even the strongest links in your profile. But they matter — especially if you want a natural, well-rounded link portfolio that doesn’t set off red flags. If you’re in SEO for the long haul (like I am), you already know it’s about stacking small advantages.
Social links are one of those — and they’re easier to get than most people think. A comprehensive social media marketing backlinking strategy is essential for anyone seeking to understand the role of backlinking in SEO in 2025. And for those looking to automate parts of the process, a quality social media backlink generator or prospecting tool can be a game-changer when exploring various social bookmarking backlinks websites and other social media backlinks sites.
Ready to see these strategies in action? Visit BuyLinkCo.com and let’s build your link profile the right way—no fluff, no shortcuts, just clean, real results that move the needle.
Frequently asked questions
Are social media links dofollow or nofollow?
The vast majority of links from social media platforms are either nofollow or user-generated content (UGC). This means they contain an HTML attribute that historically instructed search engines not to pass authority, or “link juice”, to the destination site.
How can a service like BuyLinkCo.com help with this?
At BuyLinkCo.com, we help create foundational “linkable assets”. Our goal is to generate the visibility that earns both powerful social signals and, ultimately, the valuable, natural dofollow backlinks that drive long-term SEO success.
